A Prenuptial Agreement from 1787

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut USA
January 15, 1995, Page B3

Ever since Greenwich was founded 354 years ago, would-be brides and bridegrooms have regarded marriage as a special union and looked forward to years of lasting matrimony.

Anyone reviewing local family genealogies, however, will find instances where some married twice, even three times. And divorce, although coming today, was not the ultimate cause of the break up of marriages 200 years ago. Death was.

The death rate for spouses was comparatively high. Some died of small pox, others of tuberculosis (referred to as consumption) or childbirth. When one spouse died, the other was faced with a multitude of new challenges and responsibilities. The worries were tremendous.

I recently stumbled upon a rarely recorded prematrimonial agreement in the Greenwich Land Records at Town Hall between Col. Thomas Hobby, a widower, and Rebecca Sherwood, widow of Daniel Merritt.

Col. Hobby's antecedents settled in Greenwich before 1659. He was an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolution. His home was one of many raided by Gen. Tryon's British troops in the Putnam Hill area of town.

Rebecca Sherwood was born March 5, 1740, the eldest of seven children of Capt. Jabez Sherwood and Hannah Disbrow. She married Daniel Merritt in April 1763. Merritt died in 1786.

The prematrimonial agreement between Hobby and Sherwood is a fascinating legal document. It was customary for a woman's property brought with her in marriage to come under the management of her husband. But in the Hobby/Sherwood document, it was agreed that "all the estate that the said Rebecca shall bring to me and that I shall be possessed of by virtue of said marriage... at the time of my decease shall be returned to her and her own property as fully to all intents and purposes as (if) the said marriage had not happened..."

Sherwood was granted the right to make her will and dispose of her estate to anyone she wished, the delivery of her estate was to take place 20 days after her death, and the job given to Col. Hobby or his executors after his demise.

She promised to return that she would "lay no claim or challenge... of the estate of the said Thomas and with his said heirs.. after the said Thomas decease but will return to my own estate and living within 20 days after his decease and will make no claim or demand on his estate... unless he the said Thomas shall consent to give some present in his Last Will and Testament."

The agreement was signed on May 3, 1787 and witnessed by John Mead and Daniel Lyon, Jr.

Since Sherwood apparently could not write an "X" is inscribed with her name and the words "Her Mark." They were married sometime in 1787.

Col. Hobby died in 1798 at age 75. Sherwood's death date is unknown. Both are thought to be buried in Union Cemetery.

Legal documents such as this recorded premarital agreement -concluded over 200 years ago- offer present and future generations a unique window on our history concerning customs of marriage, family relationships, as well as ownership and disposition of property.

Jeffrey Mead is a freelance writer and direct descendant of one of the towns founding families he grew up in the country Greenwich and is a member of the historical Society of the town of Greenwich.